If Only Life Was Easy
by asilentdrifter
Summary: He was the most laziest cop in the entire city. It was just his luck that he had to deal with a criminal during his night on patrol. And out of all the criminals in the entire world, it had to be a persocom with more spunk than he can stand.
1. Chapter 1

_This is my first foray into the persocom world with original characters. I hope you don't snooze too much from it._

Anders took a very, very long draw from his cigarette. Sure it was bad for the lungs, but he honestly did not care one bit. His reasoning was that he only had one life so he might as well do whatever he damn pleased. The irony behind this line of thinking was that he worked as law enforcement and right now he was on the job, patrolling the usual streets.

As his slim, flexible body rounded the next bend, he stopped for a moment to look up at the sky. It looked as if someone spilled a pail of white stars, contrasting the black night. No matter how many times he stared up at the night sky, he never tired from it. He took another drag and blew the swirling grey smoke, temporarily mixing with the brilliant, flashing white dots and the dark, black atmosphere.

The laid-back watchguard held back a yawn as he continued his walk down the sidewalk. He could've taken his patrol car, but he didn't for two reasons. One, he didn't want to pay for gas considering his low wage and he felt that walking was much easier than focusing on the road. He also wouldn't be able to see the stars at night. Okay, so that was three reasons but what are people going to do about it? Sue him? Oh wait, he was flat out broke so he hoped that no one would or his sorry ass would be scrounging around for table scraps for the next week.

So it was another quiet night and he liked it. If the world revolved around him he would want to have an easy life for the rest of his days. He didn't care about great riches or ambitious and successful careers. It could be said that his ideas on the future was incredibly unexciting and monotonous but that was what he truly wanted; nothing more. The only reason why he worked as a cop was because it looked like the easiest job to do now that persocoms ran the economy.

In this current generation, persocoms were the workers and the humans had cushy, profitable occupations. Even in his police station, mostly persocoms were the officers and law enforcers. In fact he was probably the only human social worker in the entire police force. Humans no longer needed to apprehend criminals because persocoms are just smarter, stronger, obedient, and can notice things that could not be spotted by the most analytical human. It was pretty much a given that persocoms are just better at everything since they do not possess "human error".

"_Only one more round across this block and I will be done for today,_" he thought to himself. After this, he only needed to file in a report and than he could take a nice long nap in his bed. As he daydreamed about his comfortable bed and warm sheets, a sudden, loud crash boomed into his ears and he nearly jumped in surprise. His eyes immediately darted and narrowed to a wooden fence guarding the backyard of a residential home.

"Great_," _he grunted darkly and with great annoyance. Of all the nights for there to be a disturbance worth checking out, it had to be during his turn at patrol. His thin fingers drew his standard-issued handgun and with some difficulty, climbed over the very tall and much splintered fence. He finally got over with a few wooden splinters on his knee and managed to crawl to the side of the house and leaned against the wall. After pulling out several barbs, curses at the end of his tongue, he slid over to the screen door and peered through, spotting someone attempting to open a small safe placed on a shelf.

Anders immediately realized why this house was the perfect target for tonight. The residing family was the richest and snobbiest in the entire neighborhood and it invited the entire block to a wild party at some exotic location. It was not at all too uncommon now that everyone in this city was all freaking rich except for him. Well, somebody had to be poor now that the money distribution steadily grew more uneven.

Even though it was dark, his keen eyes detected that the robber was very quick and precise. His movements were completely silent and he questioned dully if the culprit was so stealthy, how an inattentive slacker like him hear such a loud noise coming from the house he was robbing. The answer came too soon as he accidentally stepped on a fragment of a now broken vase with a small, but noticeable crunch.

"_Aw, shiiiiiiiit." _He looked up momentarily to see a cat up on the ceiling licking its chops, mildly entertained by the sight below him. It turned out that the housecat was not too sharp at noticing the strange figure skulking around the room and when it finally realized there was an intruder in its midst, it ran as quick as lightning, knocking over a pedestal with a vase on it. He inwardly cursed at the cat and also at whoever had the bright idea to place a vase _outside _the house.

With held breath, he waited against the wall hoping that the culprit would not notice. After silently cursing at the cat again for opening its fat mouth and voicing a "_mrroowr"_ he watched him turning back to the safe and continued his attempt on opening it. Perhaps the thief thought the cat was making all the noise because it sure as hell was the cause of most of it.

The safe creaked as the combination was finally cracked and he began to shovel valuables in a bag.

"_Now is probably a good time to strike," _Anders thought unenthusiastically. His train of thought was split between the urge to sleep and how to get past the screen door. Figuring that the family members can pay for the damages, he kicked it with a glass-shattering crash and nonchalantly stepped through with his gun pointed at the thief.

"Freeze or I'll shoot," he said just as unenthusiastically as his previous thought and mused on how corny he must sound. Anders saw that the person in front of him was wearing all black garments with even a cape, hood, and matching mask.

"_Oh boy, I get to apprehend a ninja,"_ he pondered, dripping with sarcasm.

With incredible agility, the robber back flipped, landing and scaling onto the wall and fired four daggers from one hand with breathtaking speed.

"_Crap."_

Despite his seemingly nonphysical capabilities and behavior unbecoming of a law enforcer, there was one thing he had to be proud of. He could fire a gun.

Four barks echoed from his pistol and the floor scattered with shattered blades and hilts. He pointed it at the offender's head and stated again in a negligent tone.

"Don't make me do more than I have to okay? Just give yourself up and then we can get this over with. I'm really tired right now."

The mysterious burglar fled for the open door for a quick getaway. Anders didn't like shooting at people because he knew pain hurts a lot so instead he fired at the large deer head situated right above the door which fell on top of the retreating escapee.

"Man, you're a real pain you know that?" he commented outloud as he lazily walked over to the struggling thief trapped underneath the offending object's antlers. He stooped over and pulled off the hood revealing the culprit's face.

"_Awwww, shiiiiiiiiit."_

It was a persocom. A female persocom.

Anders questioned fate on why it had to be his shift.

He didn't have a problem with women in general. Frankly, he had the same desires and attractions as the next hormonal, red-blooded male. The problem was female _criminals._ It may seem very strange, but to him, he felt extremely uncomfortable whenever he had to apprehend women. Call it chauvinism or chivalry; he didn't care what other people would think but the fact remained was that right in front of his feet was a female persocom lying with her back on the ground unable to move with a large deer head pressed firmly into her breasts.

And goddamn it she was hot.

Her long silver hair was now entangled messily with her slender and endowed form and she glared at him coldy with bright, blood-colored eyes. Now that he had a clear view of her, he mused vaguely on what kind of sickos would make a female persocom wear a skintight leotard for tasks such as robbery and if the designers were in the right state of mind to match silver hair and red eyes like certain anime characters.

She glared at him with a very chilling stare as if asking quite plainly, "Are you going to just stand there gawking or will you help get this off of me?" He could take a hint.

With a raised eyebrow, Anders clapped a pair of handcuffs on his and her wrists and pried the deer head off of her body. She still appeared disgruntled with her head bowed as he pulled her up to her feet.

"Man, looks like I'll have to drag you all the way back to the station. If I knew I'm gonna catch someone tonight, I would've taken the patrol car," he sighed. The persocom stayed as silent as the night itself.

Figuring that the residents are so fabulously rich they could certain restore their vase and wide screen door, Anders casually came out of the house with the now detained captive. _"This is going to be one hell of a long walk,"_ he mulled over. _"Ah well, it's not like there's anything better to do anyway."_

After a long while, they ended up at a local convenience store. Thinking of grabbing something to eat, he brought the handcuffed persocom with him inside. The cashier gave a skeptical look at the strange duo. It was probably very bizarre to see a watchman and a persocom in a black cloak handcuffed to each other, but Anders walked on as if nothing unusual was happening.

"I'll have this," he said bluntly, dropping a ramen bowl on the counter. And for the first time tonight, he saw a new expression from his captive. Okay, so it was a stare of pure disbelief, but at least it was something different from the usual stony look.

The pair of them sat at a bench outside and the lazy guard chomped away at his quick snack. His current 'companion' still had that look of disbelief on her face, but another emotion surfaced that was unknown to him. Finally, for the first time she spoke.

"Are you truly a police officer?"

That's it? That's the very first thing that came out of her mouth? Couldn't she tell from the uniform, badge, gun, etc.?

"Not exactly but I do work at a police station," he replied, unsure of where this question was leading to.

"You don't act like one," she stated with absolute seriousness, her words straight and sharp as an arrow.

"I don't recall a handbook describing the etiquettes and mannerisms of the police force," he said with again, biting sarcasm.

"It was easy to notice your presence from behind the door. Your movements were sloppy and unfocused. You were reckless and I could have easily killed you right on the spot," she replied coolly. Her voice was gracefully feminine and very pleasant to listen to had it been under different circumstances.

Anders didn't care about a lot of things, but to be criticized on his somewhat unorthodox yet (in his opinion) effective techniques by a handcuffed criminal was a bit too much.

"As I recalled, _I_ was the one who _caught_ **_you_**," he snapped back.

"If you were dead, it would leave traces of evidence. I do not want my master to be accused of murder."

"Right, that's exactly why you threw sharp objects at my face."

"Those were aimed so that you will not be able to give pursuit. Did you not see the intended trajectory?"

"I wouldn't know since they were flying _at _me."

"I do not understand how you were even considered to be employed in law enforcement."

"And I don't understand why I shouldn't tape your mouth shut."

They had finally reached their destination and Anders opened the door to the station, waiting for the (for the moment) quiet (no he did not use adhesive tape) persocom to enter. As they went inside, a persocom officer tied her up and with some resistance, he was able to pry open her white and baby blue ear and sticking a cord in, linking to her databanks. Anders sighed, thankful for the calm silence as he waited for his report.

"No data was present besides standard motor functions. There is no information of a present owner," the police persocom named Chad stated after twenty minutes of thorough scanning.

Anders sighed again. He didn't expect to find anything the minute he entered into the station. As persocoms became much more efficient in upholding the law, people started to learn that persocoms were also perfect at committing crimes. They left absolutely no trace of hair, blood, fingerprints, or any other genetic material humans had. And even if by some puny chance a persocom was found, like right now, the owner could have a self-destruct program installed that automatically erases all information regarding him at the moment of capture.

"I guess I'll go tell Rolan then," he drawled.

"No need. I'm right here," said a slightly overweight man leaning against the wall. Chad stood up smartly and saluted, but he waved him off.

"At ease already," he looked a bit exasperated, "I don't need to be saluted every single time I enter into a room. You can go back to your post."

"Sir, yes sir!" Chad replied and immediately marched back to his cubicle. Rolan shook his head and sat on a seat next to Anders.

"You would think that we're in a drill camp instead of a run-down police station."

"Yeah well, the way you make us work might be one of the reasons," Rolan gave a mocking glare and then said, "I'm the chief of police. I can do anything I want." He then turned his chair, facing the silent persocom chained to a steel chair. So, another one eh?"

"Yeah, kids these days are getting smarter. Sooner or later persocoms will be running the world and we'll just be their labor."

"Too true. Hey, you talk as if you're as old as I am. Aren't you just in your middle twenty's? And why don't you go get yourself a persocom to take your place so I can get all those reports you haven't filed in yet?"

"I'm too poor. The paycheck you give me is not enough."

"Only because you're too damn lazy to do anything besides taking up space and using up all our ammunition for nothing."

Anders and Rolan had bantered like this since the beginning of Ander's employment. He was not exactly sure why he really got the job in the first place, but he suspected that part of the reason was that Rolan wanted a human to talk to now and then.

"So what's going to happen to her?" Anders asked, but he could guess what the answer would most likely be.

"Well, since she is now unregistered and technically illegal, she'll probably be sent somewhere to be scrapped for parts or worse."

After a caught persocom was stripped of all information bearing to the crime, it would usually be "disposed" for security and to be sure that it could never be used again by the instigator. Anders did not really approve of this method, but it's not like he could do anything about it. That's just how the way things work.

"She'll be taken tomorrow and you're going to stay here and watch." Anders looked as if he just sat on a thorny cactus.

"What?" Why do I have to stay here for the rest of the night?" He asked, looking positively mutinous.

"So that you can finish up all those reports you didn't do for the last three weeks," Rolan replied with a smirk. "Don't fall asleep now." And with a wave, he left.

"Damn it," he cursed. The persocom just looked at him with an unreadable expression.

"What? Aren't you going to say something about me being unfit to work for the police?" He asked sarcastically.

Instead, she looked down on the floor and said nothing, surprising him but his face remained emotionless. He turned to his desk littered with papers and scattered folders. \

"_This is going to be a long night."_

The hour hand struck two. Anders yawned and let out a long stretch. He was finally finished and now his mind was focused on nothing else but his bed. His hands filled up all the completed reports in their appropriate folders and straightened it on his desk.

"Finally I can go to sleep," he stifled back another yawn and gave another look at the persocom now completely still and silent. Her head bowed slightly and long, flowing silver hair covered her eyes.

"Well, it's been nice meeting you even though we'll probably never see each other again so I guess this will also be our final farewell," he said a bit overdramatically, but the persocom didn't respond. It didn't really matter to him, but it seemed a bit strange that she was not talking to him.

"Hey, did you hear me?" He asked again, moving nearer and upon closer inspection what completely bewildered him was that he found her hands shaking.

"Hey, why are you trembling? You're not still mad at me are you?"

She did not say anything at first, but then he could barely make out a small response.

"I am going to die am I?"

It was a very strange question, a very strange question indeed. Anders stared at her, his eyes as wide as dinner plates, matching her blood-red ones. This was coming from the same person that just belittled him about his working capabilities?

"Uh, I don't think you can die because you're not actually living," he deadpanned.

"I don't want it," she said.

"Want what?"

"I…I don't want my existence to be…all for nothing," she spoke so soft that he had to strain his ear to catch all the words.

He could have almost sworn that he sensed fear in her voice. To see her self-assurance slowly breaking apart and watching her breaking down was a pitiful sight. Anders knew that persocoms had no rights in this world. Despite how stronger or smarter they are compared with humans, they were still seen as what they originally came from, just computers.

"_Nice going Anders. If I didn't know better, I'd think you're showing a shred of pity for the enemy," _he mentally groaned. With another exasperated sigh, he went back to his chair and sat down on it. This slightly surprised her and she looked at him with confusion.

"How am I supposed to leave when I see you all upset and depressed like that?" he said in a flat-out tone. _"Damn my chivalrous nature….or is it really chauvinist? Ah who cares?" _"It looks like I'm going to be staying here all night after all."

"Why?" She asked, still completely bewildered.

"You already heard me. I thought persocoms were smart," he spoke with drooling sarcasm.

"Even the most primitive persocom will have intelligence that is vastly superior to the smartest human and most easily yours," she responded icily.

"You sure don't sound like it."

"Why is that even necessary?"

"Well if you are smarter, than you should at least sound like you do. That sounds like something a two-year old would say."

"I do not sound like a two-year old!"

"Ummm, ya-huh."

"That is not even a valid and legitimate reason!"

"Oh sure, like yours are totally blowing the jury away!"

And so they argued back and forth and there showed no sign of stopping until the sun poked its head out from behind the rolling hills. And little does she realize it or him for that matter, but she did not feel the least bit upset during the short time together.


	2. Chapter 2

The low rumble echoed through the tiny station, causing Anders to groan in contempt. He blearily opened an eye and looked around his current surroundings, noting depressingly that he had been asleep in his chair the entire time. His head turned to the handcuffed persocom next to him. She didn't budge an inch and appeared to be asleep, or to be politically correct, storing energy. The lazy police officer let out a yawn and cricked his stiff back. His gaze focused through the window on the noisy truck rolling into the parking lot.

It was the infamous 'Electronic Defect Transport'.

During this day and age, people are using more computer-related items at a very frequent pace. Of course, this has also created more waste as well. However, computers are not that easy to discard so in response the town council formed a branch just for this job. It then grew bigger and began hosting other tasks. One job it does is collecting any persocoms that are not claimed by any owner or corporation. It will then be dismantled and melted into reusable resources. There are a few instances where persocoms will try to escape and even become violent so the transport was upgraded to fit the requirements necessary to restrain them.

In layman terms, it was a heavily armored, garbage truck.

Two men entered into the station and said, "We're here to pick up the cargo."

"I'm sure you are," Anders replied with a lifted brow. The two guards look like they came out of a SWAT team. It was odd to him that the "garbage men" were more armed than the police force.

The silver-haired persocom didn't say a word, her face revealed no emotion to the naked eye. Perhaps it was because he was used to firing a gun and could spot tiny nuances of things that no one else could see, but he noticed that she never blinked nor did her gaze stray from the ominous-looking truck.

"Please come this way," one of them requested, his face hidden by his obsidian-colored helmet.

Anders felt like he was leading a prisoner on death row as he guided the hushed captive. When they reached to the back of the transport, the doors opened to display a dark, empty space. There wasn't even a makeshift bench to sit on.

"All we need is for you to unlock the handcuffs and we'll take it off your hands," the faceless guard mechanically spoke. Anders grunted, a tad annoyed by his way of speech and started to dig through his pockets with his free hand.

"Uh oh."

The two guards both sag their shoulders and turned their helmets towards him as if exasperated by this sudden turn of events. They weren't the only ones surprised. For a moment, the incarcerated persocom let down her usual, cold mask and stared at Anders with wide ruby eyes, completely in shock.

"Hmm, I think I left the keys back in the station," he said, sounding like this was as normal as watching paint dry.

"We'll go with you."

"No need. I can find my way around and it will be harder to remember where I misplaced it with you two skulking around next to me."

"Er, all right, but hurry it up. We have a schedule to keep."

Anders gave one last glance before marching back to the station, dragging the extremely confused captive. The whole situation was just uncanny, and her escort was even more bizarre. The strange thing was that for once in his life, he actually did hurry. Granted, she only knew him for only one night, but he didn't seem the type to speed up his sloth-like pace for anyone, let alone two complete strangers.

What was even weirder was that they exited from the back of the station, and were currently on the pathway back to the convenience store.

"Hey, w-wait a minute! Where are you taking me?" She asked warily, questioning about his sanity.

"Ah! Here it is," he bent over behind a lamp post and took out a bright, silver keycard. He swiped it and the handcuffs beeped before disconnecting from her wrist.

A few seconds passed by, the two of them stared at each other. To see her in a mixture of puzzlement and surprise was a rare sight. Anders looked back as if she was the craziest person he had ever met.

"W-why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, completely unnerved by yet another of his bewildering behaviors.

"I always thought that a normal person would take this great opportunity to make a clean getaway...so why are you still here?"

"Huh?" she gaped dumbfounded. Could this be real? Was he really allowing her to escape?

Anders loudly slapped a hand on his forehead and pulled it down over his eyes. He vaguely wondered how in the world were persocoms able to run today's economy with intelligence such as this.

"The point is that I am an idiotic and incompetent officer that has allowed the prisoner free in a deserted alley devoid of roadblocks in the vicinity. I would like to add that you don't have much time to hang around and chat unless you want to be turned into scrap heap and incinerated. If you do, then I'll just bring you back," he deadpanned with a hint of amusement in his voice.

She gave him a cold look, but it was a different kind then the usual, chilling stare. It was more of an annoyed glare at his sadistic sense of humor. The lazy officer responded with a sarcastic grin that rivaled the Cheshire cat. The persocom ran as quick as lightning, but when she was about to reach out of his line of sight, for the first time since he met her, she revealed a subtle smile.

The laid-back policeman let out a sigh and pulled out a cigarette from his chest pocket, and lighted it with his silver lighter.

"Looks like I picked a bad time for a smoke," he mumbled to himself, taking a drag as he saw two familiar figures running toward him.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?" Needless to say, the chief of police was not thrilled about his subordinate's performance.

"I'm not sure. One moment she knocked me out flat and the next instance, I found myself-,"

"Oh, don't give me that crap," he interjected. He sat down with a sigh, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger in agitation.

"So...why did you let her free?"

Still keeping up with his façade, Anders responded, "I don't-," but the chief waved it off.

"We've known each other for four years now, and I know for a fact that you're not as stupid as you pretend to be. Other blokes might be fooled, but I understand you more than anyone else."

"I don't know if I should take that as a compliment."

"The higher-ups keep questioning me on why I still have you on the force. Despite your lack of motivation, responsibility, attendance, and poise, you have an acute sense of observation and analysis."

"Is that so...,"

"Besides, you're one of the few blokes left in the station that I can have a decent conversation with that is not work-related."

Just then, the door slammed open and Chad burst in like a cat on fire.

"Chief, we received an emergency call! The resident claims that someone is breaking into his house!"

"In broad daylight?" he asked with perplexity. "Send two squad cars over there to investigate," he ordered.

After the jumpy persocom left, he said, "Look Anders, I'll make this plain and simple. Because of your inactions you have been temporarily suspended from your duties until further notice. Not like you do anything remotely useful around here anyway, but I do want to know is why did you let a potentially dangerous threat escape?"

Anders stayed silent for a moment to gather his thoughts and then he finally replied slowly, "I don't understand why a persocom that was programmed by a criminal should be the one blame for his crimes," he crossed his arms and leaned back unto the wall. "Shouldn't the person who ordered it be the one to face justice?"

The chief sighed and watched him sympathetically. "I understand what you're saying but we have to be realistic. A persocom is not a 'someone' as you put it. Persocoms are not people…just tools. In a way, we are like the people who programmed them."

"Hm?" Anders raised an eyebrow, displaying a rare case of full attention.

"We use persocoms to search and capture those disturbing the peace. Criminals use them for their own benefit. Just as we use persocoms to achieve our goals, they use them for the exact same reason. So in the end, we're not that different."

The chief stood up and pulled on his jacket. "I have to check out the current situation. Leave your badge before you go," he said before closing the door behind him, leaving Anders to ponder in the vacant office. With a snort, he ripped his badge off his chest and dropped it on the desk. He changed out of his uniform into a leather jacket and listlessly exited out of the station, but not before hearing, the chief scream" What!? A squirrel rammed into his screen door?!"

* * *

The now-exempt policeman walked on an empty sidewalk. He took a two-hour subway ride and it was nearing sunset. It was still another hour before he finally reached his small, shady apartment on the fourth floor. Of course, he enjoyed complaining about the lack of space despite that he knew it would do no good, but right now his mind was currently elsewhere.

"Tools huh...," Anders thought aloud.

He questioned humanity about what the whole point was to create such sophisticated technology if it was used just for a typical residential raid. Surely problems like global warming or world hunger would be easier to solve if people weren't using their inadequate brains to calculate how to make the fastest hit-and-run. What's even sadder was that that they needed persocoms for something as simple as stealing. The real culprits were probably all fat, blubbery slobs that couldn't reach the refrigerator and needed a persocom to serve them.

"Humans sure aren't worth much these days," he scoffed to himself.

A soft voice came out of nowhere saying "I agree."

With trained reflexes, Anders quickly fell to the ground in a crouched position, his gun drawn out in front of him at a steady aim.

"Oh, it's only you."

It was the "freed" persocom. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest and she had a reserved look in her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" He asked casually, his body resuming back to its former, slacking posture. "Aren't you supposed to be on the run? Why don't you go back to your master?"

"How can I? You erased all offending data including my memories."

"Oh yeah..., so I guess you really can't go anywhere can you?"

She shook her head. Her waving, silver bangs glistened from the red glow of the setting sun, not that he was paying great attention of course. On the contrary, his gaze was resting on two more attractive areas in his opinion.

"What are you looking at?" He immediately had a sudden interest in the fire hydrant next to her. The persocom's ice-cold stare could probably kill someone instantaneously.

"Whuh?...Er, nothing." She continued to silently glare at him like he was an enemy to all persocoms everywhere.

"You still haven't answered my question on why you're here."

Now it was her turn to look at the fire hydrant. Anders just stared dumbly, but she did not say a single word. The expression on her face was one of deep unrest and turmoil as if a large mental battle has taken place.

"Um, Helloooo? Do you feel like following me for no apparent reason, or maybe you are so compelled by my appearance that you decided to come back home with me?" Anders said teasingly. However, when the persocom still did not say anything to conflict him, he gaped at her with an even stupider-looking expression.

"Don't tell me you're seriously coming with me are you?"

Her eyes flickered in unbearable shame. It was very painful for her to admit it, but the only person she could go to for help was this dumb, lazy, good-for-nothing cop.

"Well you do whatever you want," he said and resumed his walk back home. He didn't look behind, but he sensed that she was following him a fair distance away. "Hey you, do you have a name?" Anders asked without turning around.

Several moments of silence proceeded until he heard her reply in a smooth, silky voice, "I don't have one."

"Well I don't want to keep saying 'hey you' every time I want to say something," he thought out loud, but at least make a name that is simple."

Another long moment of silence passed by and this time he did look back. The nameless persocom appear troubled, as if this decision was a very complicated moral issue like whether to chop down a rainforest or destroy an innocuous village for the expansion of a large-scale city. More for his enjoyment, Anders thought up of a couple examples to assist with her thought process.

"How about McDonald?" He asked, pointing at a giant, yellow, florescent 'M' pasted on a fast food restaurant. However, all he received was a feeling of her heated stare burning into the back of his skull.

Ultimately, all of his suggestions were shot down by a series of major disapproving glares such as 'ramen', 'weeds', and 'sunshine'. When he mentioned 'hippo,' his head was hit with a pebble.

"Owch! I meant Hippolyta!" He retorted painfully, but she crossed her arms and turned away with a "Hmph!"

The two of them finally reached Ander's apartment and they still hadn't figured out a name. As they passed by the small garden leading to the door, the persocom abruptly stopped. Anders did a double take and strolled over next to her.

"What is that?" she asked curiously, pointing at a single flower that is planted much farther than the others.

"That's a rose."

She seemed entranced by it. The flower was in full bloom and it danced merrily with the slight breeze. Her hand lightly stroked its blood-red petals, enjoying the velvety texture. But then, a fingertip strayed unto one of its thorns, and she immediately reflexively jerked her hand away.

The lax, ex-officer stared at this reaction with a raised eyebrow. He didn't think persocoms could actually feel physical pain, but perhaps it was caused by some installed program or whatnot.

"You have to be careful when handling roses. They're nice to look at, but the stem has sharp thorns," he spoke off-handedly with a wave which she nodded in understanding.

"So do you want that as your name?"

The ninja-attired persocom didn't respond, but she also hadn't shown any sign of discontentment.

"I guess that will do though personally I preferred Hip-," he was forced to duck his head to prevent being slapped, her hand barely brushing the tips of his hair. What boggled his mind was how she never found out what a rose actually was, but held knowledge of fat, flabby mammals.

Little did either of them realize was that this seemingly, harmless event marked the beginning of their odd yet significant relationship.

_A.N.:_ _Because of a certain relative told me to get on with it, I finally finished this second chapter so it's all thanks to her that this is actually posted. I think she'll be slightly perturbed that I even mentioned this. The squirrel incident was in the police blotter so it's a true story._


End file.
